Prosecution Seeks 12-Year Prison Sentence for Former Chairman Choi Sun-won on Charges of Embezzlement and Breach of Trust Amounting to 223.5 Billion Won

Choi Sin-won, former chairman of SK Networks. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hye-won] The prosecution has demanded a 12-year prison sentence for Choi Se-yun, former chairman of SK Networks, who is accused of embezzlement and breach of trust amounting to 223.5 billion won. Jo Dae-sik, chairman of the SK Supex Council, who was indicted on charges of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

On the 16th, at the sentencing trial for former chairman Choi’s violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and other charges, held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Yoo Young-geun), the prosecution requested the court to sentence former chairman Choi to 12 years in prison and impose a fine of 100 billion won.

Former chairman Choi was indicted in March on charges of embezzling and breaching trust worth approximately 223.5 billion won from six affiliates under the pretext of pursuing a personal golf course business, paying false salaries to family and relatives, paying residence expenses for hotel villas, paying for personal capital increases, and providing funds to insolvent affiliates.

The prosecution conducted additional investigations into whether SK Group was involved in the process of SKC’s capital increase, and about two months later, indicted Chairman Jo and three group officials without detention on charges of violating the same law (breach of trust) and others.

Chairman Jo is accused of conspiring with former chairman Choi to cause damage by having SKC invest approximately 19.9 billion won and 70 billion won respectively in the capital increases of SK Telesys, which was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2012 and 2015.

The prosecution demanded a 5-year prison sentence for Cho Kyung-mok, CEO of SK Energy, who participated in Chairman Jo’s breach of trust, and a 4-year prison sentence for Choi Tae-eun, former head of SKC’s Management Support Headquarters.

For Ahn Seung-yoon, CEO of SK Telesys, who was indicted on charges of violating the External Audit Act, the prosecution demanded a 2-year prison sentence.

Ahn is accused of preparing false financial statements and disclosing them by overstating assets and understating expenses worth approximately 15.2 billion won during the 2015 capital increase process, after failing to achieve the goals set for the normalization of SK Telesys’s management.

Meanwhile, former chairman Choi, Chairman Jo, and others have consistently denied the charges during the trial, claiming that their actions were managerial decisions made to prevent SK Telesys’s bankruptcy rather than breach of trust.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.